You might have asked yourself why this movie has the highest rank on my top-50 list^*. Before I answer this comprehensible question, I would like to give a little synopsis. Unlike "Child's Play 2", I will not discuss the plot of the first part this time, because
a) it is in my intention to write a separate review of it some time, and
b) "The NeverEnding Story II" cannot really be considered a sequel to its successor; it's more like a remake

Washington D.C. Bastian is living alone with his widowed father. Their relationship is not the very best and now Bastian didn't make the swimming team once again, which disappoints his father. Furthermore, Bastian hasn't overcome the death of his mother yet.
One day he visits Koreander's bookstore to ask for a book that could help him fight his anxieties of jumping from the high board at swimming class. While the old man is searching for a book about courage, the boy sees the well-known to him book "The NeverEnding Story" on the counter and decides to read it again. Back home, he takes the magical amulet "Auryn" from the book's cover and is teleported to "Fantasia", the land of children's dreams and fantasies, where he paid a visit at the end of Part One of the story.
Once again, the head of Fantasia, the Childlike Empress (played by a pretty, but compared to Jonathan still ugly girl ), is in danger and with her the existence of the land of dreams. Together with his old buddy from the Great Plains, Atreyu, he begins a quest to free the Childlike Empress from the dark forces that are holding her. Those dark forces are enforced by Xayide, the evil master of a castle shaped like a hand.
On his quest, Auryn comes very handy to Bastian since it fulfills all of his wishes. There's only one drawback he isn't aware of: every time he makes a wish, he loses one of his memories; Xayide has built a machine that collects them, which means: when Bastian has lost all of his memories, he will not be able to make another wish! Since he finds out too late about this, he has to use even his last wish, erasing the memory of his so beloved mother...

Okay, so far for the plot. Let me now reveal why I love this film so much:

• The boy's beauty is breathtaking
• The film's music is gorgeous
• The boy's acting is excellent; even if some other reviewers disagree about that and complain that Jonathan is "over-acting": I especially love the way he can play with his facial muscles and the way he can emphasize the dramatic nature of some scenes
• The first part of the film is rather sad/depressing over large parts. This doesn't apply to its predecessor
• The film features many worthy subjects: friendship, fight against evil, the importance of children's fantasies, father-son relationship
• The special effects are superb
• The whole film is beautiful to watch with its rich coloring
• The ending is just perfect:
  Dad: "Bastian. I love you. I love you very, very much."
  Son: "I love you too, Dad."
  Both fall into each others arms, the camera pivots to the book with Auryn being illuminated and the end credits begin to play with wonderful music from Robert Folk / Giorgio Moroder - just perfect!

To be honest: the original "NeverEnding Story" (Part I) is an even better film, viewed from a quality-standpoint. Most elements are even more perfect than in the "Next Chapter". Especially the way the story is told is the best example of a classic fantasy tale I've ever seen. What was decisive not to put it on rank 1 of my top-50 list, but its successor, is the fact that it's rather sad/depressing over large parts, which I already mentioned in the listing above. There are even some horror elements in the film that might give younger children nightmares. "The Next Chapter" is easier to watch and so, even if it might not be the better film, I put it on rank 1. My top-50 ranking is not only a quality ranking, it's also a ranking of how often I can and do see a movie. This means, if movie A is of higher quality than movie B, but I watch movie B more often than movie A because it's more entertaining, I might choose a higher rank for movie B. Furthermore, Part II features two subjects that the first Part is missing, but which I like very much: friendship and father-son relationship (the latter only insinuated briefly at the beginning of Part I).

I'm truly fascinated by both the boy and the film: from the thousands of screenshots I took, I wasn't able to keep less than 224 of them - the highest number for a single movie so far. From those 224 images I selected the 30 you can see in the gallery below - the highest number for a review so far and as with all reviews, the decision which ones to choose was not easy.

Let me spend a few last words about Part III of the NeverEnding Story. To summarize it frankly: compared to its wonderful predecessors it really sucks! The producers cut down on everything: actors, special effects, story, etc. Only the music remains comparatively well and we have a good laugh every now and then. But the most ridiculous thing you can imagine is what was done to the fable beings Rockbiter and Falkor: Rockbiter has forfeit three quarters of his size and Falkor looks and sounds like a sissy!! His voice is higher and faster than the physical model laws allow. The film's "special effects" are so cheap that you don't know whether to laugh or cry when for example watching Falkor fly! And Rockbiter riding on a motorcycle, singing "Born to be wild", is just awful. There is at least an attempt for some nice ideas in the storyline, like the "Nasties", a mean school gang, trying to control the course of the NeverEnding Story and some fable beings from Fantasia being teleported to the human world, but somehow the result is not too overwhelming. However, if you try to overlook the miscarried fable beings and special effects, there remains a certain level of entertainment which makes it worth to watch the film at least once.

That should be enough words about Part III, but they had to be said because I'm not going to review the film at a later time. Now enjoy my gallery from Part II. If you still don't want to see the film after browsing it, I really feel sorry for you.